Now She Checks Her Reflection
by Tachikawa Mimi
Summary: A special gift to Chris McFeely and Sora. ^^v Tai remembers how he first got to speak to Sora. Back in first grade, she wasn't as loving.


_Oh. My. Gosh. I actually **succeeded** in doing something I thought I would never be able to do. Write a Digimon story that has absolutely no Mimi and Joe. I'm dedicating this to Sora-chan (author name Sora) and Chris-san (Chris McFeely)...two of the most fanatical Taiora fans I know. I hope that my first Taiora-ish story gains their approval!_

In first grade, everyone was afraid of her. Even me.

She was a terror. She pushed arounda ll of the kindergarteners, and even some of the second graders. She even made our teacher cry once.

"Sora, please go up to the board and write out the multiplication tables for numbers five through nine." the teacher stood at her desk, her syllabus in one hand, a piece of chalk in the other.

You know what happened? Nothing. Sora sat at her desk, staring vacantly at the chalkboard straight ahead.

A few of the students around me began to exchange glances and whisper. I just kept watching her, trying to figure out what she was doing.

The teacher silently walked up the aisle on the left side of Sora. I sat in the row to the right of Sora, so I got to see the details of this exchange.

I think the teacher thought Sora fell asleep with her eyes open. She bent over. "Sora?"

Sora proved her wrong by shifting her eyes to look straight at our teacher. Her facial expression didn't change--it was still bitter, and her mouth was a small, forced frown.

I saw our teacher's face begin to twist as she faught back her tears. She straightened up, her feelings mirrored perfectly on her face: those of fear and confusion.

Not wanting to see her cry, or see Sora get in huge trouble, I shot my hand up in the air. "Miss Wataru, I've been practicing my tables! Can I write them on the board?"

The teacher's face went blank, and she looked across to me. Her feeble oice peeped. "...y...you, Tai?"

I vigourously nodded, looking a bit too enthusiastic again. I had to be careful about that, Miss Wataru might think I have a crush on her. That'd be bad...

Miss Wataru dabbed her eyes, smiling sweetly, her voice still cracking. "...but your handwriting is the worst in the class..."

I put a hand behind my head of thick brown hair, and laughed loudly. I had forgotten about that...

"Well, I've been working on that, too!" I said with the most optimistic tone I could without sounding fake.

"Go ahead, then."

I leapt out of my seat, and ran up the aisle (until Miss Wataru shouted a sharp "WALK!" to slow me down) to the blackboard, and very precisely wrote out my multiplication tables on the board.

I don't think Sora's head every moved during our classtime before lunch. She always sat by herself. Most bullies had a circle of followers...but not her. I think she threatened them all off.

I didn't see her at recess. While playing soccer, I watched for her over near the old rusty slide, where she usually sat under the shade just against the ladder. She'd sit in the gravel, picking through the pebbles, finding just the right ones to hurl at the kids passing by, unsuspecting.

I felt bad. I always laughed about it, that such a tiny girl with such a plain face would be so coarse and ridgid. She had a twisted sense of humor--like she didn't realize how small she was. But no one messed with her. No one dared.

But she wasn't there. Maybe Miss Wataru took her to the Principal...

She was in class after recess, though. She was still the same, she still had that "attitude" thing going. 

I looked up to the blackboard, and in the top right corner, I saw that Miss Wataru had assigned her to clean erasers after school that day...an honor I was all too familiar with.

Maybe Miss Wataru _did_ keep her in for recess. Did this mark the end of disruption? 

As I packed together my books for the walk home after class, I saw Sora at the chalkboards. The last few students were leaving the room. I threw my bag over my shoulder, and walked up to the chalkboard. I stood on the other end, keeping my fair distance from the walking timebomb. I picked up a piece of chalk, and began to write my numbers up and down the board.

Sora was thumping an eraser against the metal tray of the board, and looked up to me as I continued writing.

"What are you doing?" she quietly spoke. Her voice sounded soft, but cold at the same time. Kinda like the color gray, you know? It was relaxing, but it still sent a ripple of icyness down my arms.

"Practicing my numbers. Miss Wataru says I have the worst handwriting in the class." I tried to keep her from sensing my fear, so I grinned. "Practice makes perfect, you know."

"Nobody's perfect." Sora replied, and came over to erase my hard work.

"Now I have to clean these all over again."

"Well you were cleaning them wrong to begin with." I pointed at her hands, and then picked up two erasers. "You're supposed to clap them together."

Sora picked another one up, and furiously beat them together in my face. The dust was inhaled into my lungs, and I started choking. I coughed miserably, my eyes watering.

"Is that why you stayed? To rub it in my face?" Sora set the erasers down, and snatched away mine. She began to beat them together, and rose her voice a bit. "Oh, everybody lookit Tai! Our star soccer player! Prize pupil! A model student in every way!"

I finally was able to stop coughing in order to reply. "I wasn't doing that at all!" I rose my voice, adn saw her turn away quickly. Her shoulders began to tremble. "Oh, no, did I make you cry?"

"I'm not _crying_!" she hatefully snapped, her voice cracking.

I began to laugh, my fear melting away. "No way! _I_ made Sora Takenouchi _cry_?!"

Totally off-guard, I was socked across the jaw with a sharp, hard fist. I felt as though my head was going to be torn off of my neck. I fell back on the tile floor, against my bag of books. I sat up shakedly, grabbing my chin. My eyes stung, and tears spilled down my cheeks. With a pathetic whine, I glared up to her. "That hurt!!"

And then--well--I cried. Sora, being the cold-hearted beast she was, smiled through her tears, and put her hand son her hips. "Who's crying _now_, hot-shot?!"

After I picked up the shattered pieces of my pride (and wetting a few tissues), Sora took a firm grip of my hand, and yanked me up.

"The other day I threw a rock at this kindergartener, and it left a gross bruise, I guess..." Sora didn't look at me as we cleaned the erasers together. "Anyway, she had a big brother, obviously. In fifth grade."

I watched her stare at the erasers. "Did he threaten to get you?"

"Only if I do it again." Sora replied, and then her face suddenly went sour. "Man, I hate big brothers."

I felt a twinge at that.

"They're always hovering over their little brothers and sisters...no wonder those squirts are so pathetic. They never learn to fend for themselves." she continued.

"Uhm..." I gathered my courage again, and prepared myself for another pounding. "I'm a big brother."

She looked up to me with an unreadable face.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"Little brother?"

"Sister."

"Oh." Sora looked back to her erasers. "What's her name?"

"Kari."

"Oh. Cute."

"Yeah."

She doesn't hate big brothers now. In fact, she's dating one.

I don't know exactly when she changed into this feminine, shy, shell of a girl. I'm still led to believe that her voice, her aggressiveness--is somewhere in her.

I noticed the softness of her face. I just never paid much attention to it, it was always marked up with dirt or something.

But now, she's wearing makeup...and skirts. And now she checks her reflection, to make sure everything's just right.

Everything _was_ just right. Why are you trying to change things?

Does this make you happy? If it does, then prove it to me, and I'll be happy for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~__

_I actually wrote this diddy while in the bathtub. It didn't brew in my head long before I wrote it. This is sort of my reaction to the entire Sorato thing in the Japanese episodes right now. Personally, I could go either way with who Sora gets together with. But I do think this situation is a possibility, and I find it interesting--but not something the writers should be canonizing. Personally, I think the writers of Digimon should leave the inter-personal relationships up to fan speculation, and focus more on their relationships with the actual **Digimon**. Anyway, that's just me...01 was SO much better....._

_Please review, folks. This is my first Taiora, and the only way I'll ever do another one--or a Sorato, or whatever--is if I get feedback._

_Mimi_


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